Contrarian Investment Strategies: The Psychological Edge

Contrarian Investment Strategies: The Psychological Edge

In this major revision of his investment classic, one of the premier investment managers introduces vitally important new findings in psychology that show why most investment strategies are fatally flawed and his contrarian strategies are the best way to beat the market.The need to switch to a new approach for investing has never been more urgent. The Crash of 2007 revealed in dramatic fashion that there are glaring flaws in the theory that underlies all of the prevailing investment strategies-efficient market theory. This theory, and all of the most popular investing strategies, fail to account for major, systematic errors in human judgment that the powerful new research in psychology David Dreman introduces has revealed, such as emotional over-reactions and a host of mental shortcuts in judgment that lead to wild over and under-valuations of stocks, bonds, and commodities and to bubbles and crashes. It also leads to horribly flawed assessments of risk. Dreman shows exactly how the new psychological findings definitively refute those strategies and reveals how his alternative contrarian strategies do a powerful job of accounting for them. He shows readers how by being aware of these new findings, they can become saavy psychological investors, crash-proofing their portfolios and earning market beating long-term returns. He also introduces a new theory of risk and substantially updates his core contrarian strategies with a number of highly effective methods for facing the most pressing challenges in the coming years, such as greatly increased volatility and the prospect of inflation. This is every investor?s essential guide to optimal investing.Review?David Dreman is known on Wall Street as a contrarian, a label that fails to appreciate his deep knowledge of the market and research into investor psychology. InContrarian Investment Strategies: The Psychological Edge Dreman lays bare the deficiencies of the efficient market hypothesis, the investment rationale that states stock prices incorporate all known information. He also provides decades worth of data to show the woeful inaccuracy of analysts' forecasts. With the knowledge that the Street is marching to a flawed drumbeat, Dreman offers advice on how to react when markets misprice assets. Dreman has made a career of leaning heavily against the prevailing wind and for the most part, been highly successful. For those wary of following the herd, Dreman's thinking is revealing.? -Hebert Lash, Correspondent, ReutersAbout the AuthorDavid Dreman is the chairman and managing director of Dreman Value Management, LLC, a firm that pioneered contrarian strategies on the Street and manages more than five billion dollars of individual and institutional funds. Regarded as the "dean" of contrarians, he is the author of the critically acclaimed Psychology and the Stock Market and Contrarian Investment Strategy. Dreman is also the senior investment columnist at Forbes magazine. Articles about the success of his methods have appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Fortune, Barron s, Bloomberg Businessweek, and numerous other publications. He lives with his wife and daughter in Aspen, Colorado.